Al Sedra Newsletter 2020/21 Issue 13

3rd December 2020

YOUR WEEKLY UPDATE ON ALL THAT’S GOING ON AT THE GULF ENGLISH SCHOOL

3rd December2020

WHOLE SCHOOL We’ve had a great start to our assessment week. With only one more week to go, our students have been focused and determined to demonstrated their understanding across various subject areas. These assessment sessions have given us the much needed insight to further develop our learners. These insights give us the preparation for our second term and ensure our learners continue building on their understanding. But as we look back through our first term, we take a moment to reflect on the various challenges and obstacles we faced.

In our firm commitment to be undefeated, we continued to overcome these hurdles one after another. This is the experience for our students’ generation. As learners, they have demonstrated the resilience needed to face such challenges and are better prepared for life. Our learner have made us so proud and are the personification of The Gulf English School.

3rd December2020

INFANTS

Pre-school children are singing about all kinds of animals: farm animals, wild animals, polar animals and desert animals. They love singing about Alice the Camel with five humps and the Animal Finger Family. They have experimented with a variety of percussion instruments and have moved their bodies to the music, with ‘The Elephant Dance’ being a particular favourite.

Reception children are learning about tempo in music: fast and slow. They listened to the story of ‘Anansi, Puss and Ratta’. They learnt about music getting faster in ‘Ratta’s Dance’. They looked at how small birds fly quickly and large birds fly slowly and moved according to the tempo of the music. They have performed music using a variety of percussion instruments.

Year 1 children are learning about beat and tempo. The have learned to tap a steady beat in the songs that they know and have discovered that music can be fast or slow. They have listened to 'Pinocchio’s song' and moved to the beat, and discovered that a song titled ‘Raga Abhogi’ has no beat! They are learning to sing ‘We’re Going on a Lion Hunt’ and ‘Okki Tokki Unga.’

Year 2 children are learning about a steady beat in music. They have listened to ‘March Past of the Kitchen Utensils’ and tapped the beat on their knees. They learnt an African call-and-response song, ‘Kye Kye Kule’ and discovered the beat in the song. They have also learnt songs about transport like ‘Driving in my Car’ and ‘She’ll be Coming ‘Round the Mountain.’

Our Year 1 and Year 2 pupils have also looked at two songs from our PSHE curriculum: ‘Together as One’ from our theme Being Me as well as the chorus from ‘There’s a Place’ from our Celebrating Differences theme.

3rd December2020

JUNIORS At the Gulf English School, we aim to deliver a broad and balanced curriculum, ensuring that all pupils have the opportunity to excel in all subjects, both creative and academic. Here are some benefits of participating in music lessons.

Music lessons help develop language and reasoning: Students who participate in music lessons will develop the areas of the brain related to language and reasoning. The left side of the brain is better developed with songs which can help imprint information into their minds.

A mastery of memorisation: Student musicians are always using their memory to perform. The skill of memorisation can serve students well in all subjects.

Students learn to improve their work: Learning music promotes craftsmanship, and students learn to want to create good work instead of mediocre work. This resilience can be applied to all subjects of study.

Increased coordination: Students who practice with various instruments such as the drums can improve their hand-eye coordination.

Just like playing sports, children can develop motor skills when playing music.

Keep singing everyone!

3rd December2020

SECONDARY With GES taking the lead in progressive technology use in lessons, teachers have been developing their skills through a number of great programmes designed to enhance their capabilities. Due to this, the teaching staff in the English Department, and all across GES, have started to use a range of software in their lessons, which is making the lessons even more engaging and interactive, and helping the students to obtain the very best learning experiences.

With the second half-term nearly over, there is continued progress in the use and development of technology based learning; the English Department are full steam ahead. We are using Teams, Firefly, Kahoot and Quizlet as well as continually developing our use of Nearpod, and Peardeck in our efforts to ensure the children of GES get the very best of online learning. The new software ensures students are engaged, and have live interaction, whilst communicating with the teacher in real time.

With English being at the forefront as one of the requirements in the modern world, the students are, through the engagement in lessons online and in the classroom, being exposed to a much wider range of reading and varied vocabulary; which is slowly filtering down into the work they are doing. As an English department we notice the difference more because it is apparent in the students’ ‘English’ work. As time goes on, we believe this will eventually show in the grades which the students achieve. Also, we, as a department, feel that we are seeing our students develop skills in the world of technology which will be invaluable in their future careers.

At times we know the students feel burdened with work, but the English Department believe that we can see real improvements, and that are students are working towards being better global citizens of tomorrow.

3rd December2020

CONTACT The Gulf English School PO Box 2440, Doha, Qatar Main School: Tel: +974 44578777 Main School: Fax: +974 44861256 Infant Unit: Tel: +974 44886791/90 +974 44886201/93 Infant Unit: Fax: +974 44876821

Email: info@gulfenglishschool.com

Website: www.gulfenglishschool.com